Lifeboat Foundation

Fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear a mask or physically distance during outdoor or indoor activities, large or small, federal health officials said, the fullest easing of pandemic recommendations so far.

The fully vaccinated should continue to wear a mask while traveling by plane, bus or train, and the guidance doesn’t apply in certain places like hospitals, nursing homes and prisons, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

The agency said it was making the revisions based on the latest science indicating that being fully vaccinated cuts the risk of getting infected and spreading the virus to others, in addition to preventing severe disease and death.

AI systems can lead to race or gender discrimination.

The US Federal Trade Commission has warned companies against using biased artificial intelligence, saying they may break consumer protection laws. A new blog post notes that AI tools can reflect “troubling” racial and gender biases. If those tools are applied in areas like housing or employment, falsely advertised as unbiased, or trained on data that is gathered deceptively, the agency says it could intervene.

“In a rush to embrace new technology, be careful not to overpromise what your algorithm can deliver,” writes FTC attorney Elisa Jillson — particularly when promising decisions that don’t reflect racial or gender bias. “The result may be deception, discrimination — and an FTC law enforcement action.”

Continue reading “FTC warns it could crack down on biased AI” »

SATELLITE images show that China has built 260 fortified prison camps capable of holding hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims in the last three years.

The revelations come after months of growing international condemnation over China’s internment, indoctrination, and abuse of Uighur people across the Xinjiang province.

Up to 1.5million people are thought to have been detained in the province since 2017 as part of an attempt by the Chinese government to crack down on long-running separatist movements.

HENDERSON, Nev.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions, Inc. (OTCPK: AITX), today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Robotic Assistance Devices (RAD) has entered into an agreement with EAGL Technology, Inc. to offer EAGL’s Gunshot Detection System (GDS) in all present and foreseeable future RAD devices.

“We have been receiving repeated requests that gunshot detection capabilities be built into RAD devices from industries as varied as transit operators, retail property managers, and law enforcement. Integrating EAGL’s technology into RAD’s autonomous response solutions should be well received by all of the markets we serve” Tweet this

EAGL Technology was established in 2015 after acquiring gunshot ballistic science developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). EAGL has advanced this technology by creating a state-of-the-art security system. The EAGL product offering utilizes the company’s patented FireFly® Ballistic Sensor technology which RAD will offer, as an integrated option, on all mobile and stationary security solutions. EAGL clients include Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens and many more.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — In the Nevada desert, a cryptocurrency magnate hopes to turn dreams of a futuristic “smart city” into reality. To do that, he’s asking the state to let companies like his form local governments on land they own, which would grant them power over everything from schools to law enforcement.

Jeffrey Berns, CEO of Nevada-based Blockchains LLC, envisions a city where people not only purchase goods and services with digital currency but also log their entire online footprint — financial statements, medical records and personal data — on blockchain. Blockchain is a digital ledger known mostly for recording cryptocurrency transactions but also has been adopted by some local governments for everything from documenting marriage licenses to facilitating elections.

The company wants to break ground by 2022 in rural Storey County, 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of Reno. It’s proposing to build 15000 homes and 33 million square feet (3 million square meters) of commercial and industrial space within 75 years. Berns, whose idea is the basis for draft legislation that some lawmakers saw behind closed doors last week, said traditional government doesn’t offer enough flexibility to create a community where people can invent new uses for this technology.

Law enforcement agencies dismantled the infrastructure of Emotet, a notorious email-based Windows malware behind several botnet-driven spam campaigns.

At the same time, there was indeed more action. In one major victory, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM banned or suspended their sale of face recognition to law enforcement, after the killing of George Floyd spurred global protests against police brutality. It was the culmination of two years of fighting by researchers and civil rights activists to demonstrate the ineffective and discriminatory effects of the companies’ technologies. Another change was small yet notable: for the first time ever, NeurIPS, one of the most prominent AI research conferences, required researchers to submit an ethics statement with their papers.

So here we are at the start of 2021, with more public and regulatory attention on AI’s influence than ever before. My New Year’s resolution: Let’s make it count. Here are five hopes that I have for AI in the coming year.

“Power is essential to restoring wireless and wireline communications, and we are working with law enforcement to get access to our equipment and make needed repair,” the statement said. “There are serious logistical challenges to working in a disaster area and we will make measurable progress in the hours and days ahead.

We’re grateful for the work of law enforcement as they investigate this event while enabling us to restore service for our customers.

The outages were reported several hours after an explosion in downtown Nashville that took place near an AT&T facility.

Cops are now hunting down the “jetpack dude” who has been flying around near LAX. Some people are calling it an accident waiting to happen.

The FBI is on the case as well.